Israel Kills Hamas Terrorists Recently Trained in Iran, Syria

Reading is fundamental. It's more than a public service message or a familiar and excellent nonprofit children's literacy organization. It is a lesson we adults often must relearn over and over again. One of our bad habits is in reading news. Far too often we fail to progress beyond the third paragraph.

If you had failed once again when reading today's New York Times article on the Hamas rocket attacks and the Israeli response, you would have missed paragraphs 11 and 12. And these paragraphs are fundamental to understanding what Israel and the West are facing.

Palestinians said two of the militants killed in the first Israeli strike were Abdullah Edwan, a rocket engineer, and Muhammad Abu Aker, a rocket squad commander. Residents said the men were going to a training camp in southern Gaza. Two were masked, they said, and returned from Iran three weeks ago.

Relatives of Mr. Edwan, who was said to have been the main strike target, said he was trained in Syria and Iran. Two other militants were wounded, medical officials said.

It's not the IDF making such claims, it is Palestinian family members.

When you hear someone minimize Iran's involvement in terrorism across the globe and across the Sunni-Shi'a divide, refer them to this article and these paragraphs from the New York Times today. Hamas is the Palestinian offshoot of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, about as Sunni an organization as there is. And Iran is, naturally, the protagonist of the (Shi'a) Islamic Revolution there since 1979.

Food for thought.

Here is an example of ill-advised dismissal of Shi'a-Sunni cooperation in terrorism:

Skilled terrorists armed with rockets, missiles and tons of explosives are not born in a vacuum. And the Hamas (Sunni) terrorists in Gaza have a long, profitable track record of Iranian (Shi'a) sponsorship.

When the world cries out about Israel's defensive 'siege' or blockade of the territory as 'collective punishment,' there are no strings of responsibility run back to the Iranian regime. None.

1 Comment

"Terrorists trained in Iran"----my goodness and I thought they just made carpets!

Kidding aside, Iran is in position to become the dominant power in the ME----one or two nukes will do it. However, until that time, maintaining unrest in the area keeps everyone occupied and stirs the pot so to speak. Israel is in a precarious position and they have to get their plan and propaganda machines well lubricated. It is known that Hamas will do everything it can to derail the "talks" and so far so good. As their rockets become more lethal, Israel will have to up the ante and stage a major ground assault in Gaza with no doubt "civilian" casualties in the news! That will just about kill the talks which no one really wants. Both parties believe time is on their side. The PLO always believes a better deal lies in the future with a new US administration. Israel would prefer not to negotiate under duress and while under attack. And besides their economy is booming thanks to their military and security industries. Also, they know a major war is not far off as Hezbollah and Hamas continue to arm with connections to Syria and Iran.

Oh, One more thing----Jordan. Abdullah is really pushing for a peace accord and the creation of a Palestinian state. The reason is that he fears a failure in this regard could promote Hamas to power in the West Bank and foment political trouble for him back home. The militant Palestinian faction has not forgotten "Black September" and wouldn't mind a small revolution in Jordan. Come to think of it, probably Israel wouldn't mind that either since the original plan of the Zionist founders was to make Jordan the Palestinian nation.